Monday, March 16th 2020
Clients, colleagues, and friends –
The Coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, are all over the news right now. The virus and our nation’s response to it are likely on the top of everyone’s mind. This is a time of uncertainty and worry for many people.
Citizens Disability is still here for you, and we are still working on your case.
We are taking a number of steps to ensure that we can continue to provide service to our clients throughout this unfolding situation. We are working to ensure that we can still answer questions for our clients, still be responsive to the Social Security Administration, and still do all the work that needs to be done, no matter what happens.
As you may know, various states are handling the situation differently. Citizens Disability has headquarters in Massachusetts, and thus we must follow the instructions issued from Governor Baker’s administration, as well as any measures put in place by the federal government. All of these efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19 may have an impact on our ability to staff our offices.
Given the nature of this complex and evolving medical situation, we ask you to be patient with us and our Claimant Services representatives.
If you call us, you may experience longer than usual waiting times on the phone. You may also experience some delays in getting return phone calls or response if you leave us a message through email, chat, or Facebook.
We recognize that we need to balance two critical responsibilities: our service to you, and the need to help keep our employees and their families safe.
We are fortunate in that many of our employees can work from home. We are fortunate that we have enough space in our offices that those who must come into work can maintain “social distancing” as strongly encouraged by healthcare and medical experts. We are optimistic that we will be able to maintain a consistently high level of customer service.
The COVID-19 pandemic will affect a significant portion of the population.
While we are taking all reasonable steps to prevent it from affecting our workforce, it is highly likely that some people who work at Citizens Disability will need to take time off to care for themselves or family members.
Further, it is highly likely that people who work at the Social Security Administration will also be affected. This may slow their ability to process cases or conduct hearings. We are awaiting word from the SSA about how they will handle hearings, if there will be delays or postponements, and what they will do to limit exposure for claimants who have serious health concerns already.
We know this is a challenging time to be a person with health concerns. We are going to keep working diligently, and we will keep you updated on important information about your case as often as is possible given the situation.
If you have questions, please do contact us – we will answer them as quickly as we can; even if it takes longer than normal, we will answer you.
Please take a moment to look at the following materials about the Coronavirus, and how to stay safe, from the Centers for Disease Control:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/specific-groups/high-risk-complications.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/protect/index.html
We wish you all the best, friends. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Sincerely,
Andrew Youngman
Chief Executive Officer
Citizens Disability
